Thiophene condensation products



Patented Sept. 12, 1950 .THIOPHENE conoousuroflrnonocr's tflharles F. "Beasley, oodhury, :N.- 1L, *assignorftn '"-.-S:ocony-Wa,cnumx0il Company, Incorporated, a

icol porationtof Newrrk Application SeptemberiMI I-Sfi, Serial' No. 618,412

8 Claims. (Cl. 260-43) ollmwin "Eliepresentlinvcntioxrrelatcsto hiophenefcqm Kiensaftion products and. mom particular mg da gpltocess for producin tesinous mass from th n 'phene' and tothe' novel productsp'f lthe aioresaid ,process.

QI'he vprior (artproirlidcs rmany disclosures -.Qf methods or producing resinous masses jfrom .,aro ma'tic hydrocarbons and aldehydes and from Jihenolsand .aldhydes. All of these methods-finslolve the use of eithercanacid orlan alkaline icatalystor.condcnsinga ent. Therefore, whether -zthiophene -Joe considere'dsimilar at!) lbenzene .or similar to nhenolginiitsvreactions with aldehydes or carbonyl compounds, it might be assumedethat either acid or alkaline catalysts wouldphe nece'ssary to .produoehsatisiactory results. 'However, it now has (been discouered that very satisrac- .itory resins-can be produced loy the reactionloetween thiophene and a compound 1 hayingva car-- thonyl group, particularly :an aldehyde, employ-' J :ing :a :solid adsorbent, contact :mass, preferably tin ;;flnely-di-vided iform, ins the catalyst or con-- tdensation cogent.

:is fan-object 20f this invention ato provide :a gpmcess for producingires-inous :bodies::from1:thior hone (employ ng :solid :adsorbent contact material as the zcondensationsagent. It another sQbjfiCt 'ithe presentvinvention -ito provide a I mrocessiior'zproducingresinous zbodies'from thic- Ingeneral, the novel resins of the present ina; o remrcducedjbyr cting th ophc e a "a ca e 0 13111 0 111 undattmcdc atcly e e t d e iperaturcs Iin'ibhe presence of solid adsorbent can i [t mass, l referably 'ino-finelyadiyided ornowder mxm .unitilfthe 1thiophe'ne and carb onylccompound ;LCQRS1HS8 inform .a .Itesinousmas'ssor' body. jT-h'e {resinous .mas wso obtained containing cthe solid adsorbent contact .mass resists solution in most ;o1;ganic solvents-inol ming-Joenzol, acetone, em-

' catalyst or condenslng'agent-also serves as a satisfactory filler.

{-Ihe thiophenezandzcarbonyl compound can th eacted in various pro-po tions. However, 21S preferred .to employ ;an ;excess of carbonyl compound 'andmarticularlyzsuch amounts of carbonyl rcompoundiandrthiophene asto provide -mo1;al-.pro- .pqrtions-greatergthanrlssuch a .for examp e; 2 'Q! moles of --ccarbonyl compound to one :mole zoi thiophene, However, iiormaldehyde inqany tor-Y iits variious terms and thiophene may .abe reacted via -.qr nolal;proportions ofthioohcne to aldehydeotlzgl, :I4*to 5:2,. Various a-Idchydes, such as the ah :phatic aldehydcs, acctaldehyde, propionaldehydc. :ebutyraldehyde, and ;aromatic tzaldehydes such as tenzaldenydezm yahensed infladdition tic-formalldehyde.

The condensing agent-ortoatalyst or promoter is tgenerallyca solid adsorbentscontact mass pret rezablyinhi'inely-divided or powder cform. Among the materials included inthis category are, 101' example, stays of the tmonllmorillonite type, particularly ithose which' have been activated by the well-known acid treatment to ,a composition cap-- :2: proximating .AlzSitOmfiLQHlMLHgO and ayailable alumina-silica gels employed in catalytic cracking and known to industry-ras Bead catalyst.

The condensation of the thicphene and the t' a onyl compound .is carried out preferably in "a closed \containerat abo.ut. 0 F. to aboutch0 .under .autogenous pressure, the time "required 'jbeing about .5 to about .6 hours.

",Ighe ,followingtdesoription 0f-a particular-operation is illustrative of preferred conditions within thebroad rangeofpossiblecconditionsjm eludingratiotofJmmphene to carbonylicomnound,

temperature, pressure and reaction time.

-Example I :,A-fi00;cubic-:centimeter stainless steel autoclave Qwas :chargedtwith 209 grams (2:49 moles) tof'thioplrene, .75 grams .of thioxymethylene (equivalent 2110,: 2:5 moles'of zformaldehyde) and 35 vgrams cof sol and (the like. tl hus an :inexpensiue astSupertEiltroL It becnotedzthat gthezithiotaining about 60 per cent aromatics mostly poly- 7 methyl benzenes) to remove unreacted thiophene and oil soluble resinous materials. It is to be noted that no unreacted thiophene was recovered from the Sovasol extract although 10 grams of reddish oil boiling above 205 C. at atmospheric pressure was obtained. The resinous product ad-' mixed with the clay catalyst contained 1753 per cent sulfur.

Example II Thiophene (100 grams of 1.19 moles), 200 cubic centimeters of Stoddard Solvent, 60'grams of trioxymethylene (equivalent to 2 moles of formaldehyde), and 18 grams (5 percent by weight) of Super Filtrol clay were stirred together at atmospheric pressure for 27 hours at 75 C. to 80 C. At the end of that time the reaction mixture was filtered, and the solids washed with additional Stoddard Solvent and finally with water. The solids after air drying weighed 64 grams and still contained the clay catalyst. The filtrate was topped to give in addition to a lowboiling distillate only 2 grams of a reddish-brown product which did not solidify. Most of the converted product, therefore, was solvent insoluble.

Example III Sovasol #75 (75 per cent overhead) (400 grams), 42 grams (0.5 mole) of thiophene, 60 grams of trioxymethylene, and 90 grams of Super Filtrol clay were heated and stirredtogether at the reflux temperature for 6 hours. At the end of this time the clay was removed by filtration and washed with Sovasol #75. The clay after drying weighed 120 grams and had the general appearance of containing a brown resin. Eight grams of light yellow distillate came .over in the range 200 C. at 760 millimeters to 280 C. at 7 millimeters (or 200 C. to 460 C. calculated to 760 millimeters) leaving a tacky brown solid residue containing sulfur. It would appear in this case that both solvent-solubleand solvent-insoluble resins were formed by interaction of Sovasol #75 (75 per cent overhead), trioxymethylene and thiophene.

Example I V -covered Sovasol #75 (75 per cent overhead),

a fraction (31 grams), boiling 200 C. at 760 millirneters--30() C. at 10 millimeters (or 200 C. to 475 C. calculated to 760 millimeters), which was a light yellow slightly viscous oil containing 0.8

3 head) formaldehyde resin would give the re- 4 per cent sulfur, was obtained. The solid residue, which was a light amber brittle resin, weighed 60 grams (13.6 per cent conversion based on total weight of Sovasol #75 (75 per cent overhead) and thiophene) and contained 2.2 per cent sulfur.

The usual resin from'fSovasol #75 (75 per cent overhead) and formaldehyde prepared under similar conditions has about 5 units. Should one of these 5 units be replaced by a groupcontaining the thiophene unit the calculated per cent sulfur would be 5.34 per cent sulfur. Contamination of this product with some of the straight Sovasol #75 (75 per cent oversults as found.

Example V Phenol (50 grams. or 0.532 mole), 75 grams. of thiophene, 60 grams of trioxymethylene, and 10 grams of Super Filtrol clay were stirred and heated at atmospheric pressure for hours at 75 C. to C.

The reactionmixture was filtered to'remove solids and to give 10 grams of a viscous oil filtrate. The solids were washedwith large quantities of water and dried. When dry the solids weighed 60 grams. After a benzol wash the weight of the solids had been reduced to 35.5 grams indicating the presence of solvent-soluble material. This would indicate the possibility'of having 25.5 gramsof solvent insoluble resins held in the clay.

I claim: I

1. The method of preparing synthetic products which comprises reacting thiophene with an aldehyde in the molal ratio of 1:1 to 4 at temperatures of about to about 350 F. in the presence of solid adsorbent contact material suitable for catalyzing the cracking of petroleum hydrocarbons selected from the group consisting of activated clay, fresh burnt Attapulgus clay, silica gel, synthetic alumina-silica gel containing about seven percent to about fifteen per cent alumina and baseexchange alumina-silica gels as the sole essential condensing agent.

2. The method of preparing synthetic products as described and set forth in claim 1 in which phenol is added to the reaction mixture.

3. The method of preparing synthetic products as described and set forth in claim 1 in which aromatic hydrocarbon is added to the reaction mixture.

4. The method of preparing synthetic prod ucts which comprises reacting thiophene and formaldehyde in the molal ratio of 1:1 at temperatures of about 165 to about 350 F. inthe presence of solid adsorbent contact material suitable for catalyzing the cracking of petroleum hydrocarbons selected from the group consisting of activated clay, fresh burnt Attapulgus clay, silica gel, synthetic alumina-silica .gel containing about seven per cent to about fifteen per cent alumina and base-exchange alumina-silica gels as the sole essential condensing agent.

5. The method of preparing synthetic products which comprises reacting thiophene and formaldehyde in the molal ratio of 1:1 to 4 in the presence of phenol and as the sole essential catalyst solid adsorbent contact material suitable for catalyzing the cracking of petroleum hydrocarbons selected from the group consistingof activated clay, fresh burnt Attapulgus clay silica gel, synthetic alumina-silica gel containing about I seven per cent to. about fifteen per cent alumina and base-exchange alumina-silica gels at temperatures of about 165 to about 350 F 6. The method of preparing synt c products as described and set forth in 'claim 5 in which the thiophene to formaldehyde molal ratio is 0.9:2.

7. The method of preparing synthetic products which comprises reacting thiophene and formaldehyde in the molal ratio ofxl liilnto 4 at temperatures of about 165 to about-i350 F. in the presence of aromatic hydrocarbon and as the sole essential catalyst solid adsorbentjcontact material, suitable for catalyzing thfejcracking of petroleum hydrocarbons selected from the group consisting of activated clay, fresh .burnt' Attapulgus clay, silica gel, synthetic alumina-silica gel containing about sevenper centitoabout 15 per cent alumina and base-exchange alumina- I silicagels. '8. The method of preparing synthetic products as described and set forth in claim '1 wherein the reaction temperature is about 212 1". to the reflux temperature of the reaction mixture.

CHARLES F. FEASLEY.

REFE E CE CITED UNITED STATES PA'I'EN'lI'S Number Name 7 Date;

2,114,121 Bender Apr. 12, 1938 2,200,763 Anderson May 14, 1940 2,384,505 Thomas Sept. 11, 1945 2,391,050 Horn Dec. 18, 1945 2,453,085 Caesar Nov. 2, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 109,201 Australia Apr. 11, 1940 

1. THE METHOD OF PREPARING SYNTHETIC PRODUCTS WHICH COMPRISES REACTING THIOPHENE WITH AN ALDEHYDE IN THE MOLAL RATIO OF 1:1 TO 4 AT TEMPERATURES OF ABOUT 165* TO ABOUT 350*F. IN THE PRESENCE OF SOLID ADSORBENT CONTACT MATERIAL SUITABLE FOR CATALYZING THE CRACKING OF PETROLEUM HYDROCARBONS SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF ACTIVATED CLAY, FRESH BURNT ATTAPULGUS CLAY, SILICA, GEL, SYNTHETIC ALUMINA-SILICA GEL CONTAINING ABOUT SEVEN PER CENT TO ABOUT FIFTEEN PER CENT ALUMINA AND BASE EXCHANGE ALUMINA-SILICA GELS AS THE SOLE ESSENTIAL CONDENSING AGENT. 